ADDRESS 

OF  THE 

HON.  EDWARD  EYERET  T , 

At  the  Anniversary  of  the  American  Colonization  Society, 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  JANUARY  18,  1853. 


Mr.  Pres  den1-,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Colonization  Society  : 

It  was  my  intention,  when  I was  requested  some  weeks  ago  to  take 
a part  in  the  proceedings  of  this  evening,  to  give  to  the  subject  of  the 
Colonization  Society  and  its  operations  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  the 
most  thorough  examination  in  my  power,  in  all  its  bearings;  consi  er- 
ing  that,  whether  we  lodk  to  the  condition  of  this  country,  or  the 
interests  of  Africa,  no  more  important  object  could  engage  our  atten- 
tion. But  during  almost  the  whole  of  ihe  interval  that  has  since 
elapsed,  my  time  and  my  thoughts  have  been  so  entirely  taken  up  and 
pre-occupied,  that  it  has  been  altogether  out  of  my  power  to  give  more 
than  the  hastiest  preparation  to  the  part  which  I am  to  take  in  this 
evening  s proceedings.  1 am  therefore  obliged  to  throw  myself  upon 
the  indulgence  of  the  audience,  with  such  an  imperfect  view  of  the 
subject  as  I have  been  alone  able  to  take. 

The  Colonization  Society  seems  to  me  to  have  been  the  subject  ot 
much  unmerited  odium;  of  much  equally  unmerited  indifference  on 
the  part  of  the  great  mass  of  the  community;  and  to  have  received 
that  attention  which  it  so  well  deserves,  from  but  very  few.  Y\e i behold 
it  now  only  in  its  infancy.  All  that  we  see  in  this  country  is  the  quiet 
operation  of  a private  association,  pursuing  the  even  tenor  of  its  way 
without  ostentation,  without  eclat;  and  on  the  coast  of  Africa  there  is 
nothing  to  attract  our  attention  but  a small  settlement,  the  germ  of  a 
Republic,  which,  however  prosperous,  is  but  still  in  its  infancy. 

But  before  we  deride  even  these  small  beginnings— before  we  make 
up  our  minds  that  the  most  important  futurities  are  not  wrapped  up  in 
them,  even  as  the  spreading  oak  is  wrapped  up  in  the  small  acorn 
which  we  can  hold  in  our  fingers,  we  should  do  well  to  recollect  the 
first  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  in 
your  State,  Mr.  President,  the  parent  of  Virginia.  We  should  do 
well  to  remember  the  history  of  that  dreadful  winter  at  Plymouth, 
when  more  than  half  the  Mayflower’s  little  company  were  laid  beneath 
the  sod,  and  that  sod  smoothed  over  for  fear  the  native  savage  would 
come  and  count  the  number  of  the  graves.  I think,  if  you  look  to 
what  has  been  done  in  Liberia  in  the  last  quarter  of  a century,  you 
will  find  that  it  compares  favorably  with  the  most  and  the  best  that 
was  done  in  Virginia  or  in  Plymouth  during  the  same  period.  These 
seem  to  me  to  be  reasons  why  we  should  not  look  with  too  much 
distrust  at  the  small  beginnings  that  have  been  made. 


W - - T > -i  • - . - . V • 7 

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Gentlemen,  the  foundation  of  this  Society  was  laid  in  a great  polit- 
ical and  moral  necessity.  The  measures  which  were  taken  for  the 
suppression  of  the  slave  trade  naturally  led  to  the  capture  of  slave- 
ships  ; and  the  question  immediately  arose,  what  should  be  done  with 
the  victims  that  were  rescued  from  them.  It  was  necessary  that  they 
should  be  returned  to  Africa.  They  could  not,  each  and  all,  be  sent 
to  their  native  villages  They  had  been  collected  from  the  whole 
interior  of  that  country,  many  of  them  from  a distance  of  two  thousand 
miles  in  the  interior,  and  it  was  out  of  the  question  that  they  should 
immediately  be  sent  to  their  homes.  If  they  had  been  placed  upon 
the  coast,  in  a body,  at  any  of  the  usual  points  of  resort,  the  result 
would  have  been  to  throw  them  at  once  back  again  into  the  grasp  of 
the  native  chiefs,  who  are  the  principal  agents  of  the  slave  trade.  It 
was,  therefore,  absolutely  necessary,  if  the  course  of  measures  under- 
taken for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  was  to  be  pursued,  that 
some  colony  should  be  founded,  under  the  name  and  influence  and 
patronage  of  a powerful  European  or  American  State,  where  these 
poor  victims  should  be  placed  at  once,  safely  protected,  supplied  with 
necessary  provisions  of  all  kinds,  civilized  if  possible,  and  hy  degrees 
enabled  to  find  their  way  back  to  their  native  villages,  which  some  of 
them,  we  know,  both  from  the  English  and  American  Colony,  have 
from  time  to  time  done. 

This,  as  I understand  it,  was  one  of  the  first,  ideas  that  gave  origin 
to  this  Society,  and,  as  I said  before,  it  was  a political  and  moral  neces- 
sity. Then  came  the  kindred  object,  which  was  more  important, 
because  applicable  to  a much  larger  number  of  persons,  of  providing 
a suitable  home  for  that  portion  of  the  free  colored  population  of  this 
country  that  were  desirous  of  emigrating  to  the  land  of  their  fathers. 
This,  at  first,  as  I understand,  for  it  was  before  my  day,  was  an  object 
that  approved  itself  almost  universally  throughout  the  country,  to  the 
South  as  well  as  to  the  North,  to  the  white  as  well  as  to  the  colored 
population.  Every  body  seemed  to  think  at  first  that  this  was  a prac- 
ticable, desirable,  and  most  praiseworthy  object.  Dy  degrees,  i am 
sorry  to  say,  jealousies  crept  in  ; prejudices,  for  so  I must  account 
them,  arose  ; and  in  process  of  time,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  this 
Society  has  become,  I must  say,  intensely  unpopular  with  a large 
portion  of  the  colored  population,  whose  interests  and  welfare  were 
among  the  prime  obje  ts  of  its  foundation. 

I will  not  undertake,  on  this  occasion,  to  discuss  the  foundation  of 
these  prejudices.  I will  not  dwell  upon  those,  as  they  are  called, 
oppressive  laws,  and  that  still  more  oppressive  public  sentiment  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  which  render  the  condition  of  the  colored  popu- 
lation, in  every  part  of  the  Union,  one  of  disability,  discouragement, 
and  hardship.  In  order  to  meet  the  objection  to  the  operations  of  the 
Society  which  arises  from  the  statement  that  it  tends  to  co  operate 
with  and  to  strengthen  these  oppressive  laws  and  this  oppressive  public 
sentiment,  1 will,  for  argument’s  sake,  take  it  for  granted  that  this 
legislation  and  this  sentiment  are  correctly  thus  characterized;  that 
they  are  as  oppressive,  cruel  and  tyrannical,  as  they  are  declared  to  be. 

Taking  this  for  granted,  I ask,  in  the  name  of  common  sense,  in 
the  name  of  humanity,  does  this  state  of  things  furnish  any  reason 
why  the  free  colored  population  of  the  country  should  be  discouraged 


3 


from  leaving  a state  of  things  like  this,  and  going  to  the  land  of  their 
fathers; — a continent  of  their  own,  where  no  such  legislation,  where 
no  such  unfriendly  public  sentiment  would  exi>t ; a great  and  fertile 
land,  a land  that  is  inviting  them  to  come  and  take  possession  of  it, 
and  id  various  parts  of  which  there  is  everything  that  can  attract  and 
reward  the  industry  of  man  ? It  seems  to  me  that  the  objection  which 
is  urged  to  the  Society,  that  it  co-operates  with  that  oppressive  state 
of  things  here,  furnishes  the  very  strongest  reason  in  favor  of  the 
emigration.  Let  us  take  a parallel  case.  Suppose  any  one  had  gone 
among  that  little  company  of  persecuted  Christians  in  England,  in  the 
year  1603,  who  afterwards  became  the  pilgrim  church  of  Mr.  Robin- 
son at  Leyden  ; or  suppose  any  one  had  gone  in  1G30  to  the  more 
important  company  of  Gov.  VVinthrop,  the  great  founder  of  Massachu- 
setts ; had  tried  to  excite  their  feelings  against  the  projected  emigra- 
tion ; had  told  them  that  England  belonged  to  them  as  much  as  it  did 
to  their  oppressors ; had  led  them  to  stand  upon  their  rights,  and  if 
necessary,  bleed  and  die  for  them  ; had  depicted  the  hardships  and 
sufferings  of  the  passage;  had  painted  in  the  darkest  colors,  the  terrors 
of  the  wilderness  into  which  they  were  about  to  venture  ; would  that 
have  been  true  friendship,  would  it  have  been  kindness,  would  it  have 
been  humanity?  Or,  to  come  nearer  home,  suppose  at  the  present 
day  one  should  go  into  Ireland,  or  France,  or  Switzerland,  or  Germany, 
or  Norway,  or  any  of  the  countries  from  which  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  men,  in  a depressed,  destitute  and  unhappy  condition,  are  emigrat- 
ing to  the  United  States,  to  find  a refuge,  a home,  a social  position 
and  employment ; suppose  some  one  should  go  to  them  and  try  to  stim- 
ulate a morbid  patriotism,  a bitter  nationality,  telling  them  the  country 
where  they  were  born  belonged  as  much  to  them  as  to  the  more  favored 
classes,  urging  them  to  stay  where  they  were  born,  telling  them  that  it 
was  doubtful  whether  they  would  get  employment  in  the  new  country, 
talking  of  the  expenses,  the  diseases,  the  hardi-hips  of  the  poor  emi- 
grant, and  in  this  way  endeavor  to  deter  them  from  this  great  adven- 
ture, which  is  to  end  in  procuring  a home  and  a position  in  the 
world  and  an  education  for  themselves  and  their  chi'dren  ; would  this 
be  friendship,  would  this  be  kindness,  would  this  be  humanity?  But 
these  are  the  appeals  which  are  made  to  the  free  colored  population  of 
this  country  ; and  it  is  by  appeals  like  these  that  the  Society  and  the 
Colony  have  become, sas  I am  sorry  to  say  I believe  is  the  case,  highly 
unpopular  among  them. 

But  I must  hasten  on  from  this  object  of  providing  a home  for  the 
free  colored  population  who  wish  to  emigrate,  to  another,  which  was  a 
very  considerable  and  leading  object  with  the  founders  of  this  Society, 
and  that  is,  the  suppression  of  the  foreign  slave  trade  It  is  grievous 
to  reflect,  it  is  one  of  the  darkest  things  that,  we  read  of  in  history,  that 
contemporaneously  with  the  discovery  of  this  continent,  and  mainly 
from  mistaken  humanity  towards  its  natives,  the  whole  western  coast 
of  Africa  was  thrown  open  to  that  desolating  traffic,  which  from  time 
immemorial,  had  be^n  carried  on  from  the  ports  of  the  Mediterranean, 
the  Nile,  and  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  shores  of  Eastern  Africa.  It  is 
still  more  painful  to  reflect  that  it  was  precisely  at  the  period  when  the 
best  culture  of  modern  Europe  was  moving  rapidly  towards  its  perfec- 
tion, that  the  intercourse  of  Africa  with  Europe,  instead  of  proving  a 


blessing,  proved  a curse.  Have  you  well  considered,  Mr.  President, 
that  it  was  in  the  days  of  Shakspeare,  and  Spenser,  and  Hooker,  and 
Bacon,  and  other  bright  suns  in  the  firmament  of  England’s  glory, 
that  her  navigators  first  began  to  go  forth,  and  as  if  in  derision,  in 
vessels  bearing  the  venerable  names  of  “ The  Solomon,”  and  “ The 
Jesus,”  to  the  coast  of  Africa,  to  tear  away  its  wretched  natives  into  a 
state  of  bondage?  It  was  at  the  very  time  when,  in  England  and 
France,  the  last  vestiges  of  the  feudal  system  were  breaking  down, 
when  private  war  was  put  an  end  to,  and  men  began  to  venture  out 
from  the  walled  towns  and  dwell  in  safety  in  the  open  country,  and  to 
traverse  the  high  roads  without  fear ; it  was  then  that  these  most  pol- 
ished nations  began  to  enter  into  competition  with  each  other,  which 
should  monopolize  that  cruel  traffic,  the  African  slave  trade,  the  prin- 
cipal agency  of  which  was,  to  stir  up  a system  of  universal  hostility, 
not  merely  between  nation  and  nation,  but  between  tribe  and  tribe, 
clan  and  clan,  family  and  family,  and  often  between  members  of  the 
same  household;  for,  I am  sorry  to  say,  it  is  no  unprecedented  thing 
for  these  poor  creatures  to  sell  their  wives  and  children  to  the  slave 
trader. 

In  this  way  the  whole  Western  coast  of  Africa  became,  like  the 
Northern  and  Eastern  coast  before,  one  general  mart  for  the  slave 
trade.  This  lasted  for  three  hundred  years.  At  length  the  public 
sentiment  of  the  world,  in  Europe  and  America,  was  awakened.  Sev- 
eral of  the  colonial  assemblies  in  this  country  parsed  acts  inhibiting 
the  slave  trade;  but  they  were  uniformly  negatived  by  the  Crown. 
The  Continental  Congress,  in  1776,  denounced  the  traffic.  The  Fed- 
eral Convention,  in  1789,  fixed  a prospective  period  for  its  abolition 
in  this  country.  The  example  was  followed  by  the  States  of  Europe. 
At  the  present  day,  every  Christian  and  several  of  the  Mohammedan 
powers  have  forbidden  it.  Yet  it  is  extensively  carried  on,  and  some 
authorities  say  that  the  number  of  slaves  taken  from  Africa  has  not 
materially  diminished  ; but  I hope  this  is  not  true.  This  state  of  facts 
has  Ld  several  persons,  most  desirous  of  putting  an  end  to  the  traffic, 
to  devise  some  new  system,  some  new  agency  ; and  all  agree — there 
is  not  a dissenting  voice  on  that  point — that  the  most  effectual,  and  in 
fact  the  only  substitute,  is  the  establishment  of  colonies.  Wherever  a 
colony  is  established  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  under  the  direction  of  a 
ChrLtian  power  in  Europe  or  America,  there  ffte  slave  trade  disap- 
pears; not  merely  from  the  coast  of  the  colony,  but  from  the  whole 
interior  of  the  country  which  had  found  an  outlet  at  any  point  on  that 
coast.  In  this  way,  from  the  mo^t  northern  extremity  of  the  French 
and  English  colonies  down  to  the  most  southern  limit  of  the  American 
settlements,  the  slave  trade  has  entirely  disappeared.  The  last  slave 
mart  in  that  region,  the  Gallinas,  has  within  a short  time,  I believe, 
come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  American  Colony  of  Liberia. 
Now,  along  that  whole  line  of  coast,  and  throughout  the  whole  inte- 
rior connected  with  it, — a line  of  coast,  as  I believe,  not  less  than  that 
from  Maine  to  Georgia, — from  every  port  and  every  harbor  of  which 
the  foreign  slave  trade  was  carried  on  within  the  memory  of  man,  it 
has  entirely  disappeared.  What  congresses  of  sovereigns  at  Vienna 
and  Aix-la-Chapelle  could  not  do,  what  squadrons  of  war  steamers 
cruising  along  the  coast  could  not  achieve,  what  quintuple  treaties 


5 


among  the  powers  of  Europe  could  not  effect  hy  the  arts  of  diplomacy, 
has  been  done  by  these  poor  little  colonies,  one  of  which  at  least,  that 
of  Liberia,  has,  in  latter  times,  been,  almost  without  the  recognition 
of  tins  government,  struggling  into  permanence  by  the  resources  fur- 
nished by  private  benevolence.  J ask,  what  earthly  object  of  this  kind 
more  meritorious  than  this  can  be  named  ? And  what  career  is  there 
opened  to  any  colored  man  in  Europe  or  America,  more  praiseworthy, 
more  inviting  than  this,  to  form,  as  it  were,  in  his  own  person,  a por- 
tion of  that  living  cordon  stretching  along  the  coast  and  barring  its 
wh'de  extent  from  the  approaches  of  this  traffic? 

But  even  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  all  important  as  it  is,  is 
but  auxiliary  to  another  ulterior  object,  of  still  more  commanding  im- 
portance; and  that  is,  the  civilization  of  Africa.  The  condition  of 
Africa  is  a disgrace  to  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world.  With  an  extent 
nearly  three  times  as  great  as  that  of  Europe;  its  known  portions  of 
great  fertility,  teeming  with  animal  and  vegetable  life;  traversed  by 
magnificent  chains  of  mountains,  East  and  West,  North  and  South, 
whose  slopes  send  down  the  tributaries  of  some  of  the  noblest  rivers 
in  the  world  ; connecting  on  the  North,  by  the  Mediterranean,  with 
the  ancient  and  modern  culture  of  Europe;  projecting  on  the  West 
far  into  the  Atlantic  ocean,  that  great  highway  of  the  world’s  civiliza- 
tion; on  the  South-west  making  an  approach  to  our  own  South 
American  continent;  open  on  the  East  to  the  trade  of  India;  and 
on  the  North-east,  by  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Nile,  locked  closely 
into  the  Asiatic  continent; — one  would  have  thought  ihat  wiih  all 
these  natural  endowments,  with  this  noble  geographical  position,  Africa 
was  destined  to  be  the  emporium,  the  garden  of  the  globe.  Man, 
alone,  in  this  unhappy  continent,  has  dropped  so  far  into  arrears  in  rhe 
great  march  of  humanity,  behind  the  other  portions  of  the  human  fam- 
ily, that  the  question  has  at  length  been  started  whether  he  does  not 
labor  uuder  some  incurable,  natural  inferiority.  In  this,  for  myself,  I 
have  no  belief  whatever. 

I do  not  deny  that  among  the  numerous  races  in  the  African  conti- 
nent, as  among  the  numerous  races  in  all  the  other  continents,  there  are 
great  diversities,  from  the  politic  and  warlike  tribes  upon  the  central 
plateau,  to  the  broken  down  hordes  on  the  slave  coast,  and  on  the 
banks  of  the  Congo,  and  the  squalid,  half-human  Hottentot.  But  do 
you  think  the  difference  is  greater  between  them  than  it  is  between 
the  Laplander,  the  Gipsy,  the  Calmuc,  and  the  proudest  and  brightest 
specimens  of  humanity  in  Europe  or  America?  I think  not. 

What  then  can  be  the  cause  of  the  continued  uncivilization  of 
Africa  ? Without  attempting  presumptuously  to  pry  into  the  mysteries 
of  Providence,  I think  that  adequate  causes  can  be  found  in  some 
historical  and  geographical  circumstances.  It  seems  a law  of  human 
progress,  which,  however  difficult  to  explain,  is  too  well  sustained  by 
facts  to  be  doubted,  that  in  the  first  advances  out  of  barbarism  into 
civilization,  the  first  impulse  and  guidance  must  come  from  ahroad. 
This,  of  course,  leaves  untouched  the  great  mystery,  who  could  have 
made  a beginning;  but  still,  as  far  back  as  hi>tory  or  tradition  runs, 
we  do  find  that  the  first  guidance  and  impulse  came  from  abroad. 
From  Egypt  and  Syria  the  germs  of  improvement  were  brought  to 
Greece,  from  Greece  to  Rome,  from  Rome  to  the  North  and  West  of 


6 


Europe,  from  Europe  to  America ; and  they  are  now  speeding  on  from 
us  to  tne  farthest  West,  until  at  length  we  shall  meet  the  East  again. 
To  w h * t extent  the  aboriginal  element  shall  be  borne  down  and  over- 
powered by  the  foreign  influences,  or  enter  into  kindly  combination 
with  them,  depends  upon  the  moral  and  intellectual  development  of 
both  parties.  Th^re  may  be  such  aptitude  for  improvement,  or  the 
disparity  between  the  native  and  foreign  race  may  be  so  small,  that  a 
kindly  combination  will  at  once  take  place.  This  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  case  with  the  ancient  Grecian  tribes  in  reference  to  the  emi- 
grants from  Egypt  and  the  East.  Or  the  inaptitude  may  be  so  great, 
and  the  disparity  between  the  natives  and  the  foreigners  may  be  so 
wide,  that  no  such  kindly  union  can  take  place.  This  is  commonly 
supposed  to  be  the  case  with  the  natives  of  our  own  continent,  who 
are  slowly  and  silently  retiring  before  the  inroads  of  a foreign  influence. 

Now  in  reference  to  this  law  of  social  progress,  there  have  been  in 
Africa  two  most  unfortunate  difficulties.  In  the  first  place,  all  the 
other  branches  of  the  human  family  that  have  had  the  start  of  Africa 
in  civilization,  have,  from  the  very  dawn  of  history,  been  concerned 
in  the  slave  trade,  so  that  intercourse  with  foreigners,  instead  of  being 
a source  of  mutual  improvement  to  both  parties,  particularly  to  the 
weaker,  has,  in  the  case  of  Africa,  only  tended  to  sink  them  deeper 
into  barbarism  and  degeneracy  of  every  kind.  This  has  been  one 
difficulty.  Another  is  the  climate — this  vast  equatorial  expanse — this 
aggregate  of  land  between  the  tropics,  greater  than  in  all  the  other  parts 
of  the  globe  together  ; a fervid,  vertical  sun,  burning  down  upon 
the  rank  vegetation  of  her  fertile  plains,  and  rendering  her  shores  and 
water-courses  pestiferous  to  a foreign  constitution.  This  circumstance 
also  seems  to  shut  Africa  out  from  the  approaches  of  civilization 
through  the  usual  channels.  The  ordinary  inducements  of  gain  are 
too  weak  to  tempt  the  merchant  to  those  feverous  shores.  Nothing 
but  a taste  for  advenrure  approaching  to  mania,  attracts  the  traveler  ; 
and  when  Christian  benevolence  allures  the  devoted  missionary  to  this 
field  of  labor,  it  lures  him  too  often  to  his  doom. 

By  this  combination  of  influences,  Africa  seems  to  have  been  shut 
out  from  the  beginning:,  from  all  those  benefits  that  otherwise  result 
from  foreign  intercourse. 

But  now,  mark  and  reverence  the  providence  of  God,  educing  out 
of  these  disadvantages  of  climate,  (disadvantages  as  we  consider 
them,)  and  out  of  this  colossal  moral  wrong — the  foreign  slave  trade — 
out  of  these  seemingly  hopeless  elements  of  physical  and  moral 
evil,  after  long  cycles  of  crime  and  suffering,  of  violence  and  retribu- 
tion, such  as  history  no  wdiere  else  can  parallel — educing,  l say,  from 
these  almost  hopeless  elements,  by  the  blessed  alchemy  of  Christian 
love,  the  ultimate  means  of  the  regeneration  of  Africa. 

The  conscience  of  the  Christian  world  at  last  was  roused  ; an  end, 
it  was  determined,  should  be  put  to  the  foreign  slave  trade,  but  not 
till  it  had  conveyed  six  millions  of  the  children  and  descendants  of 
Africa  to  the  Western  Hemisphere,  of  whom  about  one  and  a half 
millions  have  passed  into  a state  of  freedom;  though  born  and  edu- 
cated, no  doubt,  under  circumstances  unfavorable  to  moral  or  intel- 
lectual progress,  sharing  in  the  main  the  blessings  and  the  lights  of 
our  common  Christian  civilization,  and  proving  themselves,  in  the 


7 


example  of  the  Liberian  colony,  amply  qualified  lo  be  the  medium  of 
convey ing  these  blessings  to  t he  land  of  iheir  fathers. 

Thus  you  see,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  work  is  ready  to  com- 
mence, the  instruments  are  prepared.  Do  I err  in  supposing  that  the 
same  august  Providence  which  has  arranged,  or  has  permitted,  the 
mysterious  sequence  of  events  to  which  I have  referred,  has  also  cnlled 
out  and  is  inviting  those  chosen  agents  to  enter  upon  the  work? 
Everything  else  has  been  tried,  and  failed.  Commercial  adventure,  on 
the  part  of  individuals,  has  been  unsuccessful  ; strength,  courage, 
endurance,  almost  superhuman,  have  failed;  well  appointed  expedi- 
tions, fitted  out  under  the  auspices  of  powerful  associations  and  power- 
ful governments,  have  ended  in  the  most  calamitous  failure;  and  it 
has  been  proved  at  last,  by  all  this  experience,  that  the  white  race,  of 
itself,  cannot  civilize  Africa. 

Sir,  when  that  most  noble  expedition,  I think  in  1841,  was  fitted 
out,  under  the  highest  auspices  in  England,  to  found  an  agricultural 
colony  at  the  confluence  of  the  Niger  and  the  Chad,  out  of  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  white  persons  that  formed  a part  of  it,  one  hundred 
and  thirty  sickened,  and  forty  died.  On  the  other  hand,  out  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  colored  men,  that  formed  part  of  the  expedi- 
tion, only  eleven  sickened,  and  they  were  men  who  had  passed  some 
years  in  the  West  Indies  and  in  Europe,  and  not  one  died.  1 think 
that  single  fact,  in  reference  to  the  civilization  of  Africa,  is  worth, 
I had  almost  said,  all  the  treasure  and  ail  the  suffering  of  that  ill-fated 
expedition. 

Sir,  you  cannot  civilize  Africa, — you  Caucasian,  you  proud  white 
man,  you  all-boasting,  all-daring  Anglo-Saxon, — you  cannot  do  this 
work.  You  have  subjugated  Europe;  the  native  races  of  this  country 
are  melting  before  you,  as  the  untimely  snows  of  April  beneath  a ver- 
nal sun;  you  have  possessed  yourselves  of  India;  you  threaten  China 
and  Japan;  the  farthest  isles  of  the  Pacific  are  not  distant  enough  to 
escape  your  grasp,  or  insignificant  enough  to  elude  your  notice;  but 
this  great  Central  Africa  lies  at  your  doors,  and  defies  your  power. 
Your  war  steamers  and  your  squadrons  may  range  along  the  coast ; 
but  neither  on  the  errands  of  peace,  nor  on  the  errands  of  war,  can 
you  penetrate  into  and  long  keep  the  interior.  The  G«»d  of  nature, 
for  purposes  inscrutable,  but  no  doubt  to  be  reconciled  with  his  wisdom 
and  goodness,  has  drawn  a cordon  across  the  chief  inlets,  that  you 
cannot  pass.  You  may  hover  on  the  coa.^t,  but  woe  to  you  if  you 
attempt  to  make  a permanent  lodgment  in  the  interior.  Their  poor 
mud-built  villages  will  oppose  no  resistance  to  your  arms;  but  death 
sits  portress  at  their  undefended  gates.  Yellow  fevers,  and  blue 
plagues,  and  intermittent  poisons,  that  you  can  see  as  well  as  feel, 
hover  in  the  air.  If  you  attempt  to  go  up  the  rivers,  pestilence  shoots 
from  the  mangroves  that  fringe  their  noble  banks;  and  the  all-glorious 
sun,  that  kindles  everything  else  into  life  and  power,  darts  down  dis- 
ease and  death  into  your  languid  frame.  No,  no,  Anglo-Saxon,  this 
is  no  part  of  your  vocation.  You  may  direct  the  way,  you  may  survey 
the  coast,  you  may  point  your  finger  into  the  interior  ; but  you  must 
leave  it  to  others  to  go  and  abide  there.  The  God  of  nature,  in  another 
branch  of  his  family,  has  chosen  out  the  instruments  of  this  great 
work — descendants  of  the  torrid  clime,  children  of  the  burning  vertical 


sun  — and  fitted  them,  by  centuries  of  stern  discipline,  for  this  most 
noble  work — 


From  foreign  realms  and  lands  remote, 

Supported  by  His  care, 

They  pass  unharmed  through  burning  climes, 

And  breathe  the  tainted  air. 

Sir,  1 believe  that  Africa  will  be  civilized,  and  civilized  by  the  descen- 
dants of  those  who  were  torn  from  the  land.  I believe  it,  because  I 
will  not  think  that  this  great  and  fertile  continent  is  to  be  forever  left 
in  a state  of  barbarity.  I believe  it,  because  I see  no  other  agency 
fully  competent  to  the  work.  I believe  it,  because  I see  in  this  agency 
a most  wonderful  adaptation. 

But  doubts  are  entertained  of  the  practicability  of  effecting  this 
object  by  the  instrumentality  that  I have  indicated.  They  are  founded, 
in  the  first  place,  on  the  supposed  incapacity  of  the  free  colored  pop- 
ulation of  this  country  and  the  West  Indies  to  take  up  and  carry  on 
such  a work;  and  also  on  the  supposed  degradation,  and,  if  I may  use 
such  a word,  unimprovability  of  the  native  African  races,  which  is 
presumed  to  he  so  great  as  to  bid  defiance  to  any  such  operation. 

Now,  [ think  it  would  be  very  unjust  to  the  colored  population  of 
this  country  and  the  West  Indies,  to  argue  from  what  they  have  done 
under  present  circumstances,  to  what  they  might  effect  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances.  I think,  upon  the  whole,  all  things  con- 
sidered, that  they  have  done  quite  as  well  as  could  be  expected  ; 
that  they  have  done  as  well  as  persons  of  European  or  Anglo- 
American  origin  would  have  done  after  three  centuries  of  similar 
depression  and  hardship.  You  will  recollect,  sir,  that  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, in  his  valuable  work,  the  “ Notes  on  Virginia,”  states  in 
strong  language  the  intellectual  inferiority  of  the  colored  race.  1 
have  always  thought  that  it  ought  to  have  led  Mr.  Jefferson  to  hesitate 
a little  as  to  the  accuracy  of  this  opinion,  when  he  recollected  that  in 
the  very  same  work  he  was  obliged  to  defend  the  Anglo-American 
race,  to  which  he  himself,  and  to  which  so  many  of  us  belong,  against 
the  very  same  imputation,  brought  by  an  ingenious  French  writer,  the 
Abbe  Raynal,  whose  opinions  were  shared  by  all  the  school  of  philos- 
ophers to  which  he  belonged.  Why,  it  is  but  a very  few  years — I do 
not  know  that  the  time  has  now  ceased — when  we  Anglo-Americans 
were  spoken  of  by  our  brethren  beyond  the  water,  as  a poor,  degen- 
erate, almost  semi  barbarous  race.  In  the  liberal  journals  of  England, 
within  thirty  years,  the  question  has  been  contemptuously  asked  in 
reference  to  the  native  country  of  Franklin,  and  Washington,  and 
Adams,  and  Jefferson,  and  Madison,  and  Marshall  ; of  Irving,  Pres- 
cott, Bancroft,  Ticknor,  Bryant,  Cooper,  Longfellow,  and  Hawthorne, 
and  busts  of  others  : “ Who  reads  an  American  book?”  It  seems  to 
me,  in  view  of  facts  like  this,  we  ought  to  be  a little  cautious  how  we 
leap  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  free  colored  African  race  is  necessarily 
in  a condition  of  hopeless  inferiority. 

Then  in  reference  to  the  other  difficulty,  about  the  unimprovability 
of  the  African.  It  is  said  that  the  Africans  alone,  of  all  the  branches 
of  the  human  family,  have  never  been  able  to  rise  out  of  barbarism. 
Sir,  I do  not  know  that.  I do  not  think  that  anybody  knows  it.  An 


9 


impenetrable  cloud  hangs  over  the  early  history  of  mankind  in  every 
part  of  the  globe.  We  well  know,  in  reference  to  the  whole  North 
and  West  of  Europe,  and  a great  part  of  the  South  of  Europe,  that 
it  was  utterly  barbarous  until  the  light  of  the  Roman  civilization 
shone  in  upon  it,  and  in  comparatively  recent  times.  We  also  know, 
that  in  very  early  times,  one  of  the  native  African  races,  I mean  the 
Egyptians,  attained  a high  degree  of  culture.  They  were  the  parents 
of  all  the  arts  of  Greece,  and  through  them  of  the  ancient  world.  The 
Egyptians  were  a colored  race.  They  did  not  belong  to  the  negro 
type;  but  still  they  were  purely  a colored  race,  and,  if  we  should 
judge  from  their  present  condition,  as  unimprovable  as  any  of  the 
tribes  of  Central  Africa.  Yet  we  find  upon  the  banks  of  the  Nile, 
the  massive  monuments  of  their  cheerless  culture,  that  have  braved 
the  storms  of  tune  mote  successfully  than  the  more  graceful  structures 
of  Rome  and  of  Greece. 

It  is  true  that  some  nations  who  have  emerged  from  barba  ism  at  a 
later  period,  have  attained  the  precedence  over  Africa,  and  have  kept 
it  to  the  present  day  ; but  I am  not  willing  to  believe  that  this  arises 
from  causes  so  fixed  and  permanent  in  their  nature,  that  no  reversal, 
at  no  length  of  time,  is  to  be  hoped  from  their  operation.  We  are 
led  into  error  by  contemplating  things  too  much  in  the  gross.  There 
are  tribes  in  Africa  which  have  made  no  contemptible  progress  in 
various  branches  of  human  improvement.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we 
look  at  ihe  population  of  Europe — if  we  cast  our  eyes  from  Lisbon  to 
Archangel,  from  the  Hebrides  to  the  Black  Sea — if  for  a moment  we 
turn  our  thoughts  from  the  few  who  are  born  to  wealth,  and  its  con- 
sequent advantages,  culture,  education,  and  that  lordship  over  the 
forces  of  nature  which  belongs  to  cultivated  mind, — if  we  turn  from 
these  to  the  benighted,  oppressed,  destitute,  superstitious,  ignorant, 
suffering  millions,  who  pass  their  lives  in  the  hopeless  toil  of  the  field, 
the  factory,  and  the  mine;  whose  inheritance,  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, is  beggary;  whose  education,  from  sire  to  son,  is  stolid  igno- 
rance ; at  whose  daily  table  hunger  and  thirst  are  the  stewards;  whose 
occasional  festivity  is  brutal  intemperance; — if  we  could  count  their 
numbers,  if  we  could  sum  up  together  in  one  frightful  mass,  all  their 
destitution  of  the  comforts  and  blessings  of  life,  and  thus  form  an  esti- 
mate of  the  practical  barbarism  of  the  nominally  civilized  portions  of  the 
world,  we  should,  I think,  come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  supposed 
inbred  essential  superiority  of  the  European  races  does  not  really  exist. 

If  there  be  any  such  essential  superiority,  why  has  it  been  so  late  in 
showing  itself?  It  is  said  that  the  Africans  have  persisted  in  their 
barbarism  for  four  or  five  thousand  years.  Europe  persisted  in  her 
barbarism  for  three  or  four  thousand  years  ; and  in  the  great  chronol- 
ogy  of  Divine  Providence,  we  are  taught  that  a thousand  years  are  but 
as  one  day.  Sir,  it  is  only  ten  centuries  since  the  Anglo-Saxons,  to 
whose  race  we  are  so  fond  of  claiming  kindred,  were  as  barbarous  and 
uncivilized  as  many  of  the  African  tribes.  They  were  a savage,  fero- 
cious, warlike  people ; pirates  at  sea,  bandits  on  shore;  slaves  of  the 
most  detestable  superstitions;  worshiping  idols  as  cruel  and  ferocious 
as  themselves.  And,  as  to  the  foreign  slave  trade,  it  is  but  eight  cen- 
turies, and  perhaps  less,  since  there  was  as  much  slave  trade,  in  pro- 
portion, upon  the  coast  of  Great  Britain,  as  in  the  Bight  of  Benin  at 
the  present  day.  The  natives  of  England,  eight  centuries  ago,  were 


10 


bought  and  sent  to  the  slave  marts  in  the  south  and  west  of  Europe. 
At  length,  the  light  of  Christianity  shone  in  ; refinement,  civilization, 
letters,  arts,  and  by  degrees  all  the  delights,  all  the  improvements  of 
life  followed  in  their  train  ; and  now  we  talk  with  the  utmost  self- 
complacency  of  the  essential  superiority  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race, 
and  look  down  with  disdain  upon  those  portions  of  the  human  family 
who  have  lagged  a little  behind  us  in  the  march  of  civilization. 

Africa,  at  the  present  day,  is  not  in  that  state  of  utter  barbarism 
which  popular  opinion  ascribes  to  it.  Here,  again,  we  do  not  suffi- 
ciently discriminate.  We  judge  in  the  gross.  Certainly  there  are 
tribes  wholly  broken  down  by  internal  wars,  and  the  detestable  foreign 
slave  trade  ; but  this  is  not  the  character  of  the  entire  population. 
They  are  not  savages.  Most  of  them  live  by  agriculture.  There  is 
some  traffic  between  the  coast  and  the  interior.  Many  of  the  tribes 
have  a respectable  architecture,  though  of  a rude  kind,  but  still  imply- 
ing some  progress  of  the  arts.  Gold  dust  is  collected  ; iron  is  smelted 
and  wrought  ; weapons  and  utensils  of  husbandry  and  household  use 
are  fabricated  ; cloth  is  woven  and  died  ; palm  oil  is  expressed  ; there 
are  schools  ; and  among  the  Mohammedan  tribes,  the  Koran  is  read. 
You,  Mr.  President,  well  remember  that  twenty-one  years  ago,  you 
and  I saw,  in  one  of  the  committee-rooms  of  yonder  Capitol,  a native 
African,  who  had  been  forty  years  a field  slave  in  the  West  Indies  and 
in  this  country,  and  wrote  at  the  age  of  seventy  the  Arabic  character, 
with  the  fluency  and  the  elegance  of  a scribe.  Why,  sir,  to  give  the 
last  test  of  civilization,  Mungo  Park  tells  us  in  his  journal,  that  in  the 
interior  of  Africa,  lawsuits  are  argued  with  as  much  ability,  as  much 
fluency,  and  at  as  much  length,  as  in  Edinburgh. 

Sir,  I do  not  wish  to  run  into  paradox  on  this  subject.  I am  aware 
that  the  condition  of  the  most  advanced  tribes  of  Central  Africa  is 
wretched,  mainly,  in  consequence  of  the  slave  trade.  The  only  won- 
der is,  that  with  this  cancer  eating  into  their  vitals  from  age  to  age, 
any  degree  of  civilization  whatever  can  exist.  But,  degraded  as  the 
ninety  millions  of  Africans  are,  I presume  you  might  find,  in  the 
aggregate,  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  another  ninety  millions  as 
degraded,  to  which  each  country  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe  would 
contribute  its  quota.  The  difference  is,  and  it  is  certainly  an  all  im- 
portant difference,  that  in  Europe,  intermingled  with  these  ninety 
millions,  are  fifteen  or  twenty  millions  possessed  of  all  degrees  of  cul- 
ture, up  to  the  very  highest,  while  in  Africa  there  is  not  an  individual 
who,  according  to  our  standard,  has  attained  a high  degree  of  intel- 
lectual culture;  but  if  obvious  causes  for  this  can  be  shown,  it  is 
unphilosoohical  to  infer  from  it  an  essential  incapacity. 

But  the  question  seems  to  me  to  be  put  at  rest,  by  what  we  all  must 
have  witnessed  of  what  has  been  achieved  by  the  colored  race  in  this 
country  and  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  Unfavorable  as  their  position  has 
been  for  any  intellectual  progress,  we  still  all  of  us  know  that,  they  are 
competent  to  the  common  arts  and  business  of  life,  to  the  ingenious 
and  mechanical  arts,  to  keeping  accounts,  to  the  common  branches  of 
academical  and  professional  culture.  Paul  Cuffee’s  name  is  familiar 
to  everybody  in  my  part  of  the  country,  and  l am  sure  you  have  heard 
of  him.  He  was  a man  of  uncommon  energy  and  force  of  character. 
He  navigated  to  Liverpool  his  own  vessel,  manned  by  a colored  crew. 
Ilis  father  was  a native  African  slave  ; his  mother  belonged  to  one 


11 


of  the  broken  down  Indian  tribes,  some  fragments  of  which  still 
linger  in  the  corners  of  Massachusetts.  1 have  already  alluded  to 
the  extraordinary  attainments  of  that  native  African  Prince,  Abdul 
Rahhaman.  If  there  was  ever  a native  born  gentleman  on  earth,  he 
was  one.  He  had  the  port  and  the  air  of  a prince,  and  the  literary 
culture  of  a scholar.  The  learned  blacksmith  of  Alabama,  now  in 
Liberia,  has  attained  a celebrity  scarcely  inferior  to  his  white  brother, 
who  is  known  by  the  same  designation.  When  I lived  in  Cambridge, 
a few  years  ago,  I used  to  attend,  as  one  of  the  Board  of  Visitors,  the 
examinations  of  a classical  school,  in  which  th<  re  was  a colored  boy,  the 
son  of  a slave  in  Mississippi,!  think.  lie  appeared  to  me  to  be  of  pure 
African  blood.  There  were  at  the  same  time  two  youths  from  Georgia, 
and  one  of  my  own  sons,  attending  the  same  school.  I mu>t  say  that 
this  poor  negro  boy,  Beverly  Williams,  was  one  of  the  best  scholars 
at  the  school,  and  in  the  Latin  language  he  was  the  best  scholar  in  his 
class.  These  are  instances  that,  have  fallen  under  my  own  observation. 
There  are  others,  I am  told,  which  show  still  more  conclusively  the 
capacity  of  the  colored  race  for  every  kind  of  intellectual  culture. 

Now  look  at  what  they  have  done  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  Think 
of  the  facts  that  were  spread  before  you  in  that  abstract  of  the  Society’s 
doings,  which  was  read  this  evening.  It  is  only  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years  since  that  little  colony  was  founded  under  the  auspices  of  this 
Society.  In  that  time  what  have  they  done  ; or  rather  let  me  ask, 
what  have  they  not  done?  They  have  established  a well-organized 
constitution  of  Republican  Government,  which  is  administered  with 
ability  and  energy  in  peace,  and  by  the  unfortunate  necessity  of  cir- 
cumstances, also  in  war.  They  have  courts  of  justice,  modelled  after 
our  own;  schools,  churches,  and  lyceums.  Commerce  is  carried  on, 
the  soil  is  tilled,  communication  is  opened  to  the  interior.  The  native 
tribes  are  civilized;  diplomatic  relations  are  creditably  sustained  with 
foreign  powers;  and  the  two  leading  powers  of  Europe,  England  and 
France,  have  acknowledged  their  sovereignty  and  independence. 
Would  the  same  number  of  persons,  taken  principally  from  the 
laboring  classes  of  any  portion  of  England  or  Anglo-America,  have 
done  better  than  this? 

Ah,  sir,  there  is  an  influence  at  work  through  the  agency  of  this 
Society,  and  other  Societies,  and  through  the  agency  of  the  Colony  of 
Liberia,  and  others  which  I hope  will  be  established,  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce these  and  still  greater  effects.  I mean  the  influence  of  pure, 
unselfish  Christian  love.  This,  after  all,  is  the  only  influence  that 
never  can  fail.  Military  power  will  at  times  be  resisted  and  overcome; 
commercial  enterprise,  however  well  planned,  may  be  blasted;  state 
policy,  however  deep,  may  be  outwitted  ; but  pure,  unselfish,  manly, 
rather  let  me  say,  heavenly  love,  never  did,  and  in  the  long  run,  never 
will  fail.  It  is  a truth  which  this  Society  ought  to  write  upon  its 
banners,  that  it  is  not  political  nor  military  power,  but  the  moral  sen- 
timent, principally  under  the  guidance  and  influence  of  religious  zeal, 
that  has  in  all  ages  civilized  the  w’orld.  Arms,  craft,  and  mammon 
lie  in  wait,  and  watch  their  chance  to  mingle  in  the  work,  but  they 
cannot  poison  its  vitality. 

Whatever  becomes  of  the  question  of  intellectual  superiority,  I should 
insult  this  audience,  if  I attempted  to  argue  that  in  the  moral  senti- 


12 


ments,  the  colored  race  stand  upon  an  equality  with  us.  I read  a year 
or  two  ago  in  a newspaper,  an  anecdote  which  illustrates  this  in  so 
beautiful  and  striking  a manner  that,  with  your  permission,  I will 
repeat  it. 

When  the  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold  reached  us  from  California, 
a citizen  of  the  upper  part  of  Louisiana,  from  the  Parish  of  Rapides, 
for  the  sake  of  improving  his  not  prosperous  fortunes,  started  with  his 
servant  to  get  a share,  if  he  could,  of  the  golden  harvest.  They 
repaired  to  the  gold  regions.  They  labored  together  for  a while  with 
success.  At  length  the  strength  of  the  mister  failed,  and  he  fell  dan- 
gerously sick.  What  then  was  the  conduct  of  the  slave  in  those  far 
off  hills?  In  a State  whose  constitution  did  not  recognize  slavery,  in 
that  newly  gathered  and  not  very  thoroughly  organized  state  of  society, 
what  was  his  conduct?  As  his  master  lay  sick  with  the  typhus  fever, 
Priest  and  Levite  came,  and  looked  upon  him,  and  passed  by  on  the 
other  side.  The  poor  slave  stood  by  him,  tended  him,  protected  him  ; 
by  night  and  by  day  his  sole  companion,  nurse  and  friend.  At  length, 
the  master  died.  What  then  was  the  conduct  of  the  slave  in  those 
distant  wastes,  as  he  stood  by  him  whom  living  he  had  served,  but 
who  was  now  laid  low  at  his  feet  by  the  great  Emancipator?  He  dug 
his  decent  grave  in  the  golden  sands.  He  brought  together  the  earn- 
ings of  their  joint  labor  ; these  he  deposited  in  a place  of  safety,  as  a 
sacred  trust  for  his  master’s  family.  He  then  went  to  work  under  a 
Californian  sun,  to  earn  the  wherewithal  to  pay  his  passage  home. 
That  done,  he  went  back  to  the  banks  of  the  Red  River,  in  Louisiana, 
and  laki  down  the  little  store  at  the  feet  of  his  master’s  widow. 

Sir,  I do  not  know  whether  the  story  is  true.  I read  it  in  a public 
journal.  The  Italians  have  a proverbial  saying  of  a tale  like  this, 
that  if  it  is  not  true,  it  is  well  invented.  This,  sir,  is  too  good  to  be 
invented.  It  is,  it  must  be  true.  That  master  and  that  slave  ought 
to  live  in  marble  and  in  brass;  and  if  it  was  not  presumptuous  in  a 
person  like  me,  so  soon  to  pass  away  and  to  be  forgotten,  1 would  say, 
their  memory  shall  never  perish. 

Fortunati  ambo  ! si  quid  mea  carmina  possint, 

Nulla  dies  unquam  memori  vos  eximet  8evo. 

There  is  a moral  treasure  in  that  incident.  It  proves  the  capacity 
of  the  colored  race  to  civilize  Africa.  There  is  a moral  worth  in  it, 
beyond  all  the  riches  of  California.  If  all  her  gold — all  that  she  has 
yet  yielded  to  the  indomitable  industry  of  the  adventurer,  and  all  that 
she  locks  from  the  cupidity  of  man  in  the  virgin  chambers  of  her 
snow-clad  sierras — were  all  moulten  into  one  vast  ingot,  it  would  not, 
in  the  sight  of  Heaven,  buy  the  moral  worth  of  that  one  incident. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Colonization  Society,  I crave  your  pardon  for 
this  long  intrusion  upon  your  patience.  I have  told  you — pardon  that 
word,  you  knew  it  before — I have  reminded  you  of  the  importance  of 
the  work,  of  the  instrumentality  by  which  it  is  to  be  effected,  of  the 
agents  chosen,  as  I think,  in  the  Councils  of  Heaven,  to  carry  it  into 
effect;  and  now  what  remains  for  us,  for  every  friend  of  humanity, 
but  to  bid  God  speed  to  the  undertaking? 


Printed  for  the  Massachusetts  Colonization  Society,  by  T.  It.  Marvin,  42  Congress  st. 


